July 2017 | New Orleans, Louisiana-The Historic New Orleans Collection will join the City of New Orleans 2018 Commission's Cultural and Historical Committee to present "Making New Orleans Home: A Tricentennial Symposium," Thursday, March 8, through Sunday, March 11, 2018. The symposium is the capstone of the committee, which is chaired by author and former Associate Vice President for External Affairs at Xavier University Sybil Morial and THNOC Executive Director Priscilla Lawrence.

Featuring lectures and cultural programming throughout the city, the four-day event will explore the 300-year history of how New Orleans came to be inhabited by diverse, vibrant people and how, in turn, the concept of home has been central to the life and culture of the city.

"This is a unique opportunity to gather as a community, reflect on our city's 300-year legacy, share groundbreaking scholarship and examine this fascinating place we call home," said Lawrence.

Comprising individual lectures and panel discussions, the symposium will be held at locations throughout the city, including Tulane University, the Hotel Monteleone and Xavier University. Additional evening events will take place at The Historic New Orleans Collection and Old US Mint.

Emily Clark, the Clement Chambers Benenson Professor in American colonial history at Tulane University, chaired the subcommittee that selected more than two dozen speakers and panelists. Isabel Wilkerson, author of the award-winning book "The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration" (Random House, 2010), will be among the featured speakers on Saturday morning, March 10. Wilkerson won a Pulitzer Prize for her earlier work at the New York Times, making her both the first black woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer and the first African American reporter to win for individual reporting.

In addition to Wilkerson, the following individuals will present at the symposium.

Panelists
• Hasia R. Diner, professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies and history; Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History; director, Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History, New York University
• Tara Dudley, lecturer, School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin
• Raphael Cassimere Jr., Seraphia D. Leyda University Teaching Professor; professor emeritus, American constitutional and African American history, University of New Orleans
• Daniel Hammer, deputy director, The Historic New Orleans Collection
• Jonn Hankins, founding director, New Orleans Master Crafts Guild
• Laura D. Kelley, adjunct faculty, department of history, Tulane University
• Ann Masson, Tulane University School of Architecture (retired)
• Sybil Morial, co-chair of the City of New Orleans 2018 Commission's Cultural and Historical Committee, author and former associate vice president for external affairs at Xavier University of Louisiana
• Justin Nystrom, associate professor of history; director, Center for the Study of New Orleans; director, Documentary and Oral History Studio, Loyola University, New Orleans
• Bruce Raeburn, director of special collections and curator, Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University
• Kodi Roberts, assistant professor of history, Louisiana State University
• Dodie Smith-Simmons, founding member of the local chapter of CORE (the Congress for Racial Equality) and a Freedom Rider
• Nicholas R. Spitzer, professor of anthropology and American Studies, Tulane University
• A. P. Tureaud Jr., freelance educational consultant, artist, public speaker and author
• Noel Mellick Voltz, assistant professor of history, University of Utah

Admission to the symposium is free. The complete schedule of talks and events will be announced at a later date.

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About The Historic New Orleans Collection
Founded in 1966, The Historic New Orleans Collection is a museum, research center and publisher dedicated to the study and preservation of the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South region. For more information, visit www.hnoc.org, call (504) 523-4662, or follow THNOC on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.